Understanding human dignity is integral to protecting human rights. An examination of Canada‘s Supreme Court decisions and Canadian public policy debates reveals that human dignity is being defined synonymously with individual autonomy and equality. This narrow understanding has serious implications for people who are not able to assert their autonomy. To understand the philosophical ideas behind these decisions, this thesis examines classical, modern, and postmodern accounts of human dignity and concludes that they fall short in providing an objective grounding for dignity that is truly human. It then looks to the Judeo- Christian account of human dignity to provide a transcendent foundation for human dignity. With this account, persons are rational and physical, relational, inviolable, and teleological – a hopeful contrast to the prevailing contemporary accounts. This thesis then defends the place of this religious perspective in our secular country. / vi, 182 leaves : ill. ; 29 cm.

Vicarious humiliation as a devaluing intergroup event is a rather common experience, which has the potential to adversely influence present and future intergroup relations. Based on an extensive literature review and previous research, we hypothesised that highly identified group members experience an intensified feeling of humiliation after witnessing an ingroup member being humiliated when compared to low identifiers (Hypothesis 1), that the role of visual exposure as situational determinant of humiliating events, the appraisals, and the emotional patterns elicited, differ between personally and vicariously humiliating events (Hypotheses 2a, 2b, 3 and 4), and lastly, that vicarious humiliation regulated through emotional blends leads to behavioural intentions that influence future intergroup relations (Hypotheses 5a to 5c). Evidence for our hypotheses was exploratively and experimentally provided in six studies. Results implied that vicarious humiliation is a common experience, that visual exposure as situational determinant is more important for personally than vicariously humiliating events, and that humiliation is indeed a blended emotion (Study 1, N = 1048). Moreover, results showed that highly identified group member feel relatively stronger humiliated (Study 2, N = 175), that the appraisal and emotional patterns are related to identity processes (i.e., personal and vicarious humiliation) (Study 3, N = 74; Study 4, N = 359; Study 5 = 376), and that the feeling of humiliation and accompanying emotions regulate the relationship between vicariously humiliating events and the intentional responses such as avoidance, non-normative approach, dehumanisation and social exclusion (Study 6, N = 998). Overall, our results imply that vicarious humiliation as an emotional experience has the potential to provoke intergroup conflict. SUMMARY The present research studied a phenomenon that we are all familiar with – being humiliated. Unfortunately, this is an experience that is rather common as we might not only experience to be humiliated personally but also to be humiliated on behalf of others. It is this vicarious experience of humiliation that the present research aimed at studying. We firstly explored people’s experiences with and understandings of humiliation through a cross-sectional survey (Study 1). Results indicated that vicarious humiliation is indeed a rather common experience, that personally and vicariously humiliating events differ in terms of the situational determinants that characterise these events, and that the feeling of humiliation is experienced as a blended emotion. We furthermore tested experimentally the effects of ingroup identification, identity processes and the presence of an audience on the appraisal processes of and the emotional and motivational responses to vicarious humiliation. We found that people who highly identified with the group they share with the humiliated person, experienced stronger feelings of humiliation (Study 2), and that being personally humiliated and being vicariously humiliated resulted in different appraisal patterns, which consequently elicited the different emotional blends of humiliation with self-focused and other-focused emotions, respectively (Studies 3 to 5). We were, however, unable to provide evidence that the presence of an audience aggravated the appraisal processes and the feeling of humiliation (which we attributed to methodological limitations of our studies). That the emotional blends of humiliation regulate the behavioural intentions, that people engage in as a result of being vicariously humiliated, was demonstrated in our last study (Study 6). More specifically, we found that humiliation accompanied by self-focused emotions was related to intentions to avoid, to non-normatively approach, and/or to socially exclude the humiliator(s) through dehumanising them. It is this latter finding that provides evidence for both the role of the social context that might determine the appropriateness of certain behaviours (e.g., social norms) and for the proposed cycle of humiliation in that humiliated persons are often believed to retaliate by humiliating the humiliator(s) in return, which has the potential to provoke intergroup conflicts. / Psychology / D. Phil. (Psychology)

This paper explores issues of civility in liberal democracy, and in particular, how civility and civic engagement must be regenerated in order to forward the democratic ideals of equal rights, citizen equality and collective self-government in a meaningful way. Liberal democracy presupposes a level of civility in order to uphold standards of individual liberty and freedom, however as a theory it fails to compel citizens to support levels of mutual respect. An etymological exploration of the term civility introduces the work of puritan theologian Roger Williams, whose early writings on individual liberty as well as the role of civility and civic engagement can inform popular conversations about civility in modern democracy. This leads to an analysis of Rawlsian liberalism, where Rawls seeks to construct a robust civil society by tying individual duty of civility to an idealization of citizenship. Final analysis explores the possibility of a modern civil liberalism, as influenced by Roger Williams. A liberal civil realm must recognize the mutual reliance between individual freedom and a collective common good; this will compel citizens to choose to preserve the freedom of all citizens through civil engagement and dialogue. This ideal shares important intersections with Jürgen Habermas’ theory of deliberative democracy, but Williams’ replaces Habermas’ notion of higher-level intersubjectivity with an appeal to individual freedom of conscience. By doing so, the preservation of individual freedom of conscience requires citizen-commitment to an active and engaged civil sphere, making the ideal of civility richer than that of Habermas’ theory. Replacing the duty of civility with a commitment to the preservation and protection of individual liberty through civil dialogue is the best way to rescue modern liberal democracy from its current state of incivility, which threatens the liberty and freedom of citizens and undermines the collective common good.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Background: Recent literature on medical professionalism claims that self-awareness and the ability to reflect upon one’s experiences is a critical component of professionalism; however there is a paucity of empirical evidence to support this claim. This study employed a mixed methods approach to explore the utility of reflective writing and self- and peer assessments in explaining professionalism lapses among medical students. Methods: A retrospective case-control study was conducted using students from Indiana University School of Medicine (IUSM) who had been disciplined for unprofessional behavior between 2006-2013 (case group; n=70). A randomly selected control group (n=230) was used for comparison. Reflective ability was assessed using a validated rubric to score students’ professionalism journals. Mean reflection scores and assessment scores were compared using t-tests. Logistic regression analysis was used to determine the impact of reflection scores and self- and peer assessment scores on the likelihood of having been disciplined for unprofessional behavior. Subsequent qualitative analysis further explored when and how students learned professionalism during their clinical experiences. Results: The study found that students in the case group exhibited lower reflective ability than control students. Furthermore, reflective ability was a significant factor in explaining the odds that a student had been cited for professionalism lapses. There were no differences in self-assessment scores between the two groups, but students in the case group had significantly lower peer assessment scores than control students. Peer assessment scores also had the greatest influence on the odds that a student had been cited for professionalism deficiencies during medical school. Qualitative analysis revealed that students learn professionalism from role models who demonstrated altruism and respect (or lack thereof). Conclusions: These findings suggest that students should be provided with guidance and feedback on their reflective writing to promote higher levels of reflection, which may reduce the number of students who are cited for professionalism lapses. These findings also indicate that peer assessments can be used to provide students with insightful feedback regarding their professional development. Finally, role models have a strong influence on students’ professional development, and therefore must be cognizant of the implicit messages their behaviors convey.